President Donald Trump shared on Sunday evening that he is planning on talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he continues his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump shared his thoughts with journalists aboard Air Force One, noting that the topic of discussion would solely be ending the war in Ukraine.
“A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” Trump said Sunday evening. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the plans on Monday, but gave no other information when it comes to what the talks will consist of.
During a news conference last week, Putin discussed a potential ceasefire plan, saying he agreed with it in principle but didn’t commit to it as he said more discussion is needed.
“The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin said in Moscow last week. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.”
Putin met with Steve Witkoff last week, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. During an interview with CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Witkoff said that talks were successful.
“We made a lot of progress in that meeting,” Witkoff said. “We talked about a lot of specifics, and I point to the large gap that existed between Ukraine and Russia prior to the inauguration and where we are today. We have narrowed the issues between both of these parties, making a lot of progress, in my opinion.”
Witkoff also said that he expects the talks between Trump and Putin to be productive.
“I think this is going to be a very positive and constructive call between the two men, between the two presidents,” Witkoff said.
As for Trump, he said the talk on Tuesday will most likely involve specific assets that could determine whether or not a deal is reached.
“We’ll be talking about land. We’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question,” Trump said. “But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that, dividing up certain assets, and they’ve been working on that.”